A detailed discussion with SCRYPTS.
For four years, Sidney Bateman a.k.a. SCRYPTS/Reggie/Reginald was with WWE. He was most recently featured on NXT as a member of O.T.M. with Bronco Nima, Lucien Price and Jaida Parker.
His time with the company is coming to an end as his contract is not being renewed. He’ll be a free agent in June. He was interviewed by Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp about his upcoming exit and stated that he’s feeling positive. Bateman stated that there are lots of promotions that have reached out to him.
He went on to detail being informed that his contract was not being renewed. He learned the information from a person he has a close relationship with. Bateman was told the door to return is open and after hearing the flattering comments, he wondered why he could not get a new deal.
I’m feeling really good actually (after hearing my WWE contract wouldn’t be renewed). Very positive, you know? The news came three, four weeks ago or whatever. But I’ve been in really good spirits. It’s not how it was a couple of years ago when those releases and firings would happen and people were just devastated. I know it’s still tough but, I am in a really, really good headspace actually.
So yeah, I am full-on excited for this next chapter in my story. People don’t know this but, I did circus for 16 years and I was ready to lay that career aside, stop that career and go on the independent circuit if WWE didn’t offer me a contract. So, I was willing to dive into this head first from the very beginning but I was fortunate enough to get a contract with WWE so that didn’t happen. But, now I’m here and I’m excited to do that and like you said, lots of companies have hit me up. Lots of projects in the works. The future is very, very bright.
You say, ‘Not to be a damper.’ It was a great conversation. Because I don’t know what a conversation like that is. If it’s like, we’re gonna go the other direction. Good luck on your future endeavors. That was the conversation people said was happening, but I got a call and it was like, ‘Hey Reg. I hate to be the one to have this call, give you this news’ and I knew right there, but it’s a guy I have a really good relationship with, a person that I have a really good relationship with. He said, ‘Unfortunately, we’re not going to renew your contract. But I want you to know the door isn’t closed, it’s forever open. You were such a great talent, you’re great to work with, a joy to be around.’ Just flattering message… I thought in my head, I’m like, if I’m that great, why can’t I get a new contract? But, it was a good conversation and I’m like, okay, what’s next and whatnot? And my biggest thing was, I didn’t leave on bad blood. That’s not who I am. I’m a very positive guy. My brother is heavy on drugs right now. My grandmother is sick, my other brother’s in jail, my other brother is in a mental hospital from a car crash when he was 16 and I have people that are constantly dying back in St. Louis and I’m living a life that many would kill to be in my shoes… And so I have nothing to be upset about. I’m just like, this is just another obstacle, another hurdle that I have to jump. So, it wasn’t a bad call at all.
His move back to NXT was not his idea. Circling back to his 24/7 Title run, when he felt that was running the end of its course, he decided that he wanted to wrestle under a mask. Bateman stated that there were talks between him and Rey Mysterio of collaborating on-screen.
The story would be Mysterio giving him a mask to calm his nerves. He spoke about the original concept for the masked character and remembers speaking to Shawn Michaels and Michaels telling him good luck with trying to get people to hate him while knowing his real-life story. Overall, Bateman feels the SCRYPTS character was a failed experiment.
So, going back to NXT wasn’t my idea. But, I was in this process — because I knew the 24/7 Title stuff was on its way out. I think we rode it until the wheels fell off. We rode it for a long time and I think it was at one of its highest peaks when we were doing all of our stuff. I started to figure out what was I gonna do next and I presented myself, ‘I wanna wrestle in a mask.’ I’m a writer as well and so I write all my stories and I wrote the story of going under a mask but it wasn’t as a heel. It was gonna be something super cool, super almost basic and it was original talks with Rey Mysterio. I was gonna do something with him. Him and I discussed it and he was completely down. This is way before Judgment Day and all of these different things but it was something to where, you know, I was gonna get attacked and him and Dom (Mysterio) came to my aid, set up a six-man and I’m nervous as heck, it’s like my first match. I’m with Rey Mysterio, Dominik, all of these different things and he was gonna give me a mask to try to calm my nerves. We win or whatever, I go to give it back but he said, you know what? You keep it, you deserve it. You earned it or whatever and that was gonna be me in the mask. Flippy, flippy, fun, happy guy or whatever. That didn’t work, that didn’t happen. So I was told that I was gonna go back to NXT. Alright, sweet. I still wanted to do the mask stuff and I had a meeting with some people and just basically talked about who I was and my story and all of these different things, what I wanted to do. Very open, very great. First time dealing with NXT and I’m like, this is pretty amazing but I said I wanna do the mask and they asked what do I like to do? Talk about poetry and then someone said, ‘I have this idea for a dark poet. Would you be interested?’ I’m like, ‘Uh, sure.’ I don’t turn down anything. I’m very open and I’ll do my job. I am the performer — and I know that there is hierarchy to things or whatever. So, I do what I’m told, I’m gonna knock it out the park, just like I did the 24/7 stuff, the sommelier stuff or whatever. I striked out every time and whatnot and I never felt comfortable because one thing Shawn (Michaels) told me after I told him my story, he heard my story for the first time, he was like, oh sh*t — he didn’t say oh sh*t but he said, ‘Good luck with making these people try to hate you.’ For one, I have a very unique skill set and my story is incredible. It’s one of the reasons they hired me, but we went away from all of that. Now I have to be a dark poet. So all of these poems and things I was writing, not knowing when I was gonna debut, had a guy make my gear and he did a horrible job, my mask, horrible job. I mean, this was a first for me. I had suits, I have a tailor, so I can get all my suits custom. I didn’t have a gear guy so I found a gear guy. He threw something together quickly. Before the match earlier that day, it ripped, so I had to get it stitched so my gear was bad, my mask was bad and I’m just like, oh man, I feel so out of whack with this character and it was a huge fail.
He was relieved when he was done with the masked character and then chatted about the formation of O.T.M. with Bronco Nima, Lucien Price and Jaida Parker who later joined.
Bateman shared that his idea for O.T.M. and what was presented on television were two different things. The concept was for it to be a strong faction but feels it almost became a knockoff version of Cryme Tyme. When it came time to fully transition into O.T.M., he was hoping to move back to the ‘Reggie’ name.
He said he is not someone to constantly turn ideas down, but there were some things that were requested of the group that he shut down. It was not anything ‘severe,’ but he did not want O.T.M. portrayed in that light. Sidney closed by saying he had no issues and had a great time there.
Very much so (relieved when I was done with the SCRYPTS mask) and we started to pitch some things with Axiom and I and it was great. Very, very great and you know, that story between us didn’t develop quite like we wanted it to because just time and getting rushed and whatnot and so, that was rushed. But then the mask came off and I thought we were gonna do something, then we didn’t do anything. I said, man, this sucks, and so I did my part. I talked to my guys. I pitched the idea of doing something that was very personal to me. This is the first time that I was gonna use my real story and instead of writing it up, I filmed it. I filmed it and I put the easter eggs in the back of the two guys that I wanted to use which were Bronco (Nima) and Lucien (Price) and we filmed this vignette that the public — they didn’t see it but I showed it to some creative people and they said, ‘I love this. This is exactly what we envisioned for you. It’s like a Hurt Business, Nation of Domination-type faction and whatnot. After the pay-per-view, we’re gonna move forward with this.’ Well it was that next week, they planted the easter eggs on this faction or whatnot. I’m like, oh heck yeah. We’re moving forward right where we wanna be and for the majority of that, I’m writing all of these promos and filming all of these vignettes and sending it to them, sending it to them and they were so on board with it. I don’t know where along the line where it went from what I originally wrote to how O.T.M. was presented. Because it went from a very strong faction to almost a knockoff Cryme Tyme and I didn’t write that, you know? And that wasn’t my vision for it. But that’s how it turned out.
In my original vignette that I shot and recorded, I told ‘em, ‘I’m not SCRYPTS, I’m Reggie’ and I was gonna transition but they wanted to keep that SCRYPTS name. Maybe it was something to where we created it, we wanna make it work or whatever but again, I’m never the guy to say, no, no, no. Until they wanted us to do some things that I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re not gonna do that.’
Mine weren’t so severe. I don’t wanna make it seem like it was something crazy but, I just didn’t want O.T.M. to be portrayed in that light. I never set out to be a thug or an angry Black man on camera. But O.T.M., we were presented so mean and angry which yes, from our upbringings, but it wasn’t like I’m a thug now or whatever. I tried my hardest to break that stigma. Even when I joined the circus, I didn’t wanna be that guy, because I’m really from the streets, I really was in a gang, I really sold drugs and been to prison and been shot at, all of these different things. Watched people die — my uncle in my bedroom and I said, I have nothing to be upset about, nothing to be angry about. It’s a huge blessing that I was able to have 16 years in the circus and then make it to WWE with almost zero training and whatnot. I have nothing to be upset about and I wanted to be happy.
I will lose to anyone. That’s never my problem but, don’t ask me to drink malt liquor on-screen and whatnot, things like that. The shooting dice was, you know, we did it, but it wasn’t gonna be an ongoing thing, you know? I didn’t wanna do that and they gave me a lot of freedom to say those things so that’s why I felt comfortable declining certain things. We had a great relationship. There’s no bad blood or anything. I had a great time there, and I didn’t really see the writing on the wall but it was some evidence to show, maybe we’re gonna move on a bit.
Looking towards the future, Bateman said he’s eager to mix it up with Lio Rush on the independent scene.
Lio Rush, been a huge fan of his for a while. I know we can tear the house down.
It’ll be the 31-year-old’s first time wrestling outside of WWE. He’s leaving the company as a four-time holder of the now-defunct 24/7 Championship. His last match was at a house show in April.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Fightful with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
